Beginning INB Pages

I already posted about my new syllabus here. I created a tri-fold brochure version to paste in my students' interactive notebooks.

Also to be included in the early pages:
an "about me" page (TBD), a problem-solving booklet (TBD), a page on expectations with a spot to track marking period grades (see below), and a page on the Standards of Mathematical Practice (see below).

(I found this graphic from a quick google images search). On the page with the math practice standards, I am going to have students write a bullet point about which they think they are currently more proficient in and which math practice standard they think is going to be the most difficult and involve the most work. I am curious to see their reflections.

#MyGoalForTheYear

On the first day of school, my exit ticket for the students was to write a statement to go along with #MyGoalForTheYear. I told them I wanted it to be something they could attain by June, so writing down "to be a doctor" was not a good example because as hard as they worked, they would not be a doctor in 10 months. Mostly, these were grade based, but I want to share them anyway. (Note: I did not have time to do this with my last class).

#MyGoalForTheYear
* obtain an A-B average throughout this year for every class
* is to not miss a lot of homework
* graduate
* get straight As
* get above a C in all my classes
* As and Bs all year =)
* pass all my classes
* pass Algebra 2 with an 85 or more
* pass my classes and graduate on time
* pass this class with a 100%
* get an A so I don't have to take the final exam
* get good grades
* receive no grade lower than a B
* my goal would be to get my own pet. we just moved into our new house so I want to have my own responsibility. (I did encourage them to think OUTSIDE of the confines of school. So I really liked reading this one!)
* prepare to go to India this summer
* pass
* pass and graduate with my class
* get As and Bs in my classes
* maintain all As and Bs
* end this class with B

What does this tell me? My students are actually more motivated than last year. Or, at least they are starting out that way. I think that's great because they are more willing to think and to work.

I'm excited for the year!

#MyGoalForTheYear is to continue to push and motivate my students to think critically and mathematically and to help them mature, both academically and personally.

Day 1 - 2015

This is a draft of my Day 1 ideas for September 2015 for my resource level Algebra 2 courses.

When the students enter, the warm-up will be projected on the board. I want to get them in the habit of completing a do-now activity each day. Obviously, I also included directions to sign up for my Remind alerts.

The boring stuff needs to happen. I'll distribute the Course Outline (which parents need to sign) and the Family Info Sheet. But I made the information from the Course Outline into a fun and quick presentation. I had done this last year so I just needed to tweak it with changes I am implementing in my special ed classes. For example, Class Cash. I am going to reward students for participation, preparedness, and positive behavior with Class Cash. At the end of the marking period, this will become a participation grade. 

There must be math on the first day! Unfortunately, I know a lot of my students have tremendous anxiety about coming to school so I did not want to give them a group activity that involved a lot of social skills on day 1. That just comes with the population I teach. I also know that a lot of my students will not have picked up their Chromebooks yet, so I needed something that could be done on paper. Enter this Math Symbols worksheet. You would be amazed how many high-schoolers do not know what some of these symbols are. Hopefully working together with a partner, this will be an easy introduction and get their math minds out of summer mode! 

Like last year, I want my students to fill out a Welcome Survey for homework on Day 1 so that I can start to get to know them both as quirky teenagers and as budding mathematicians! :)

That's Day 1 in a nutshell for my resource level classes. I am planning to get started with content right away on Day 2!

Small Changes

The first day of school is quickly approaching! Teachers return on September 1st, and students come back on the 3rd!

Something that I thought I liked last year, but ended up being really annoyed with was how much "extra" stuff I did in the beginning of the year before getting into the math! It seemed like a good idea at the time - my True Colors survey, a Multiple Intelligence Survey, and some activities. However, in reality, it just ate up a good 3 days when really two of those should have been spent on getting started with content.

This year, I'm going to plan for a much shorter course introduction.

One thing I want to start is Google Classroom. It seems really easy to add announcements each day. I am currently planning to post an abbreviated agenda each day - the warm-up, what we are learning, etc. I can also post assignments. I just wish it was connected to Google Calendar. Also, It seems like I can integrate it with a Google Drive folder to share materials.

What I do not know is if this is better or worse than a Google Site. I guess I really need to think about using both of them in tandem to accomplish what I want. The Google Classroom for announcements and the Google Site as a file cabinet and calendar. Hmm... 

I also created a Google Form to streamline do-now activities. Google will automatically collect their usernames and timestamp.

I had wanted to use Google Forms for do-nows last year, but after the first three weeks of school, I had so many forms and so many spreadsheets, I simply quit. This way, I can have the do-now projected on the board, but all of the responses go to one central location. I hope that will work out better. 

This summer I still want to blog about:

- My first day of school plans

- General ideas for my resource level course

- Big changes in my CP co-taught course

- Anything else I can think of :)

2 days down, 178 to go!

The rosters for my co-taught CP classes are continually changing so we are starting "actual" math lessons on Monday. My resource rosters usually do not change too much, so we had some fun the past two days. You can check out my plans in a previous post - as usual, I wanted to do too much and it just did not fit.

I have two highlights, both of which occurred Friday:

(1) My period 4/5 class completed Five Easy Pieces and it was WONDERFUL. I loved them talking in groups and actually completing the activity. One girl remarked "I know there's variables and stuff, but this doesn't feel like math class. It's fun." WIN!

(2) I asked my students to complete a short welcome survey (by Monday, so I am still missing many of them). One of my students, who I heard horror stories about, had a really successful two days AND he completed his survey AND he mentioned in it that he wants to go to Fordham and be a photographer. HE HAS A GOAL. That gives us something to work toward, especially if he does start acting like the student he was last year. But so far so good.

Other than that, I already feel behind. I have no lesson plans written for next week yet. I have not even sent an email home to all the parents introducing myself and our class yet. That's all on this weekend's agenda! EEK! So much to do - I need another summer to prepare! :)

Day 2 Plans

School has not even started yet for teachers and I'm already freaking out about not having enough accomplished. You can check out my Day 1 plans here. Now it is on to Day 2.

If students remember back to Day 1 when we went through the class routine of checking my Google Site for the day's agenda, then hopefully students will come in, sit down, and open up their Chromebooks to get started. On my Site, there will be a link to the Friday Funny (YAY FRIDAY!). I have a Pinterest board full of goofy pictures, comics, and sayings that I will work my way through on Friday's. A quick discussion will tie this right into Day 1's homework which was a welcome survey that asked them to reflect on their strengths and weaknesses as teenagers, as students, and as learners of mathematics.

Next Up: True Colors. I used this one as my starting point to create my version.

Then onto a Multiple Intelligences inventory. I really liked Sarah's but tweaked it a tad.

Then there's a quick graphic organizer to fill out that summarizes the information from these two surveys which we will put in our INBs when we get them next week!

Then, in groups of two or three, students will complete a shortened version of Five Easy Pieces. It's about time we get our problem-solving brains turned on! I have never used this activity before, so I cannot wait to see how it goes.

To wrap-up, students will have to create a six-word summary (idea borrowed from here!) about the first two days of class. I can't wait to see (a) how many students have summaries that are not six words, and (b) what they actually write.

Students will be given a Screening Test as homework (they will have a few nights to complete it). BLAH. BORING. But, I need data, data everywhere, so this is a good starting point.

Day i^4 plans (a work in progress)

Well, the kiddos do not arrive until September 4th. Teachers report back on September 2nd (good 'ole NJ - after Labor Day. Go ahead and laugh when it's June and we are still in school). I went in this past week to bring supplies up to my different classrooms and to unpack my workstation (the teachers that do not have their own classrooms have desks in communal workrooms). It is a decent amount of space, but even in my third year of teaching I already have WAY TOO MUCH STUFF. Ugh. I am neurotic, what can I say?

Anyway, onto my Day 1 plans. Day 1 is insanely boring. I would LOVE to do something fun, but the truth is it's just not fun. The first day is run on an extended homeroom schedule so the classes are shortened. I would rather get all of the boring stuff out of the way and then have fun starting on Day 2!

When students walk in, they are going to complete a brief "Math Attitudes" survey as the day's warm-up. Then I have a cute PowerPoint to highlight the topics covered in the Course Outline (even I would fall asleep if I went through that with them line by line).

Side note: when we do get around to starting our INBs (I'm thinking Day 3 - start fresh on a Monday?!), this sheet will be toward the front with a reminder of our class expectations. 

Sorry! I just grabbed a screen-shot right from Word, so pardon the red squiggly lines! :) And yes, there are hashtags in my list of expectations. Gotta get their attention somehow, right?!

Okay, back to Day 1. After we review key aspects from the Course Outline, I will lead students on a walk-through of my Google Site & Calendar on their Chromebooks (if they all picked them up over the summer that will be FANTASTIC, but I'm not expecting it - so I'm going to project my computer as well).

The class calendar is embedded right on my site. Since it is also shared with all of them they get annoyed when it pops up on their phones! ;-)

Also on my Google Site, I post the day's agenda. Here's Day 1, which reminds me that I forgot to mention that we take time during my PowerPoint to sign up for Remind alerts as a class. 

Mostly the parents just have homework on the first day. But I also created a quick survey about previous math classes and students' reflections about their work ethic, sense of responsibility, and friends they would like to work with in the class. This is a Google Form that they can complete right from my site. Cool!

Students will also complete the Who I Am graphic organizer (I know you have seen it, so no picture) which I have reduced to actually fit in their INBs. First I want to collect them and learn about my students though. So we will tape it in our notebooks next week. 

And then we will wrap-up the day with this idea stolen from Math=Love. I saw in her post that she has a different hashtag for this school year, but I'll still steal this one. :)

If time allows, it's puzzle time. Oh boy I do love puzzles. I picked up a dozen of these gems from a party store and I am IN LOVE. 

I plan to take the pieces out of the handy little containers before the start of school so that there is no peeking at a correct solution. And as a bribe, if any of my students complete their puzzle before the end of the period, they win a homework pass (with the exclusion that they cannot use it on any of the first day's homework or the screening test they will get on Day 2).

And that's it. That's Day 1 in a nutshell.... But, my plans may change. That is nearly two weeks away.